Performance horse
AQHA World Show Champion Open Western Dressage & Dressage
I Can Can I. That is the name that I gave my little 14 hand horse…who keeps proving that she certainly CAN. Willow (that’s her barn name) and I drove 16 hours to Oklahoma City to the American Quarter Horse Association World show to compete in both traditional and western dressage. ?AQHA World Show Champion…
Read MoreWhy do horses swish or wring or use their tails? With and without riders…
I know I am opening a huge can of worms here….but lets talk about horses using their tails. I am talking about tail swishing, tail wringing, etc. Here are some questions for you…(my answer follows the question.) Do horses ever use their tails because of the rider? Yes Do horses ever use their tails because…
Read MoreRavenclaw won her first belt buckle!
Ravenclaw (that’s her AQHA name, I call her Gabby at home) won her first belt buckle! Just arrived in the mail from the Western Dressage Association of America. Excited to see what she can do this year!
Read MoreWDAA World Show Test Results (PDF) of Stacy’s rides
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE VIDEOS AND TEST PDF’S The results are in…and both of my horses are now Western Dressage World Champions! “I Can Can I” won her Level 4, Test 3 class (thats Willow, the little dun) “Ravenclaw” won TWO classes and was Reserve Champion in another! (bay mare aka Gabby) I’m so glad…
Read MoreWestern dressage quarter and half pirouettes-Episode 18: The Trail to the World Show
This week I take you behind the scenes to one of my riding lessons. My goal at the lesson is to decide what classes to enter at the Western Dressage World Show. You get to see me practicing quarter pirouettes and half pirouettes. I printed all of the tests from level 1-4 and took them…
Read MoreTraining Exercise: Circles inside of circles- Episode 17
In this video I share with you an exercise that I use to increase my horses strength, balance and understanding of aids. I call it ‘circles inside of circles’ and it involves a lot of, you guessed it, circles. In the video I show how I set up cones as points to ride to as…
Read MoreMeasuring success at horse shows-Episode 13; The trail to the World Show
What would a perfect day on horseback look like for you? I like both showing and trail riding…so my perfect day involved both:) On this day, in this video, I decided to take Gabby to a ranch riding show to test my question: Is Gabby ready to ride one handed and do flying lead changes?…
Read MoreShow to your horses strengths, specialize or generalize? Episode 11-The Trail to the World Show
What are your horses strengths? How much influence can training have on movement? What is the judge looking for in the event? How to they consider the movement, the training and the degree of difficulty? How much can you influence these as a rider/trainer? I have established that I can show my horses and achieve…
Read MoreThe most difficult transition we do with a horse: Episode 9-The Trail to the World Show
In this video I discuss transitions of speed, gait…and the most difficult transition I believe we do with horses. Teaching horses to accept contact, loose rein, and contact again is difficult. Practicing transitions inside of gaits (jog to extended jog) is just as important as transitions between the gaits (trot-canter). I knew my weekend plan…
Read MoreBuddy sour horses, western dressage & why I show: Episode 8- The Trail to the World Show
What do you do if the horses are pawing when tied up? What do you do if they whinny and call for each other? This is the first time I’ve hauled Willow and Gabby together. Willow is always a bit insecure at horse shows and Gabby hasn’t been hauled very much (less than five times).…
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